A Word on the Word for the Second Week of Lent 2007

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Peace be with you. This is A Word on the Word from Saint Gregory the Great, the Diocese of Bridgeport - Connecticut USA for the Second Sunday of Lent 2007. This week Music from Bree Noble, the Homily from Deacon Bill, news from Saint Gregory the Great and the Vatican plus the Crossroad message: Transformed by Christ. Please pray for the Victims of the Iraqi Conflict, Victims of terrorists our RCIA and confirmation candidates, Deacon Dan and all sick and deceased members of the parish.

The readings for this week are from Genesis, the Letter from Saint Paul to the Philippians and the Gospel from Luke.

Announcements from the bulletin

We wish to welcome everyone who is listening to this podcast.

We pray that joining us will give you a sense of fellowship with Jesus and with us God’s people, as well as comfort and strength for all your needs. If you have no Church of your own, we invite you to make Saint Gregory the Great or a nearby church your home Church. But above all, we invite you to come to listen any time. as

Just as God enjoins Peter, John and James to listen and to focus on Jesus rather than to rush around building tents, so too God invites us to pause from all of our busyness and to enter reflectively into the deep mystery of God’s abiding covenant with us. This spiritual space is a wonderful gift in the midst of a very busy world and, as we hear God’s word in the scriptures and receive the body and blood of our risen Lord in the Eucharist, may we also discover that it is good for us to be here.

The observance of Lent continues with five evenings of a lite supper, personal Bible sharing and a Prayer Service. We will be with our other Christian brothers and sisters, Wednesday evenings from 6:30 - 8:00 PM.

LENT is one of the most important seasons of our Liturgical Year. Let us try to do something just a little bit extra for God during this most holy time of preparation for the upcoming celebration of the “Resurrection”. For details stop by danbury.org/stgreg.

Our SOCIAL CONCERNS committee wants you to know that there were 744,000 homeless people in the U.S. in 2005 according to the first national estimate in more than a decade. A little more than half are living in shelters and nearly a quarter were chronically homeless. Most were homeless single adults, but about 44% were families. This is the first national study since 1996. Communities need to make things better. Please consider volunteering at the Dorothy Day Shelter or the overflow shelter. There is also need to feed the hungry in our midst. Located at the doors of Saint Gregory the Great are large baskets to collect your donations for The Daily Bread Food Pantry. The Food Pantry operates year round with your generosity. Please bring non perishable food and canned fruit juice for use by Daily Bread. Thank you for your continuing weekly donations of food. Your contributions help relieve the hunger that is with us year round. As always if you have any questions drop us a line at AWordOnTheWord.gmail.com.

Now here is a word from Vatican Radio

Standing at the Crossroad we see that the transfiguration of Jesus anticipates the transformation in glory that awaits us when we share in the paschal mystery - the dying and rising of Jesus.

To be Transformed by Christ we ask Adults & Teens: What role does silence play in your Lenten journey?

And Children: What do you most want God to help you with?

As we travel through the Lenten Scriptures approaching the Triduum, the three solemn days commemorating the last days of Jesus' life, we see Jesus facing the most trying period of His life in this world; His conviction as a criminal, His walk to calvary and His execution. In His humanness, the events leading up to His crucifixion would be as painful emotionally as the actual dying. They included betrayal, misunderstanding, abuse and desolation, but mostly, the seemingly absence of God the Father in Jesus’ most crucial hour.

The Transfiguration came as an incredible blessing, filling Jesus with the support, grace and inspiration He needed to walk those difficult days. Each of us needs graced memories to turn to when we face the crosses in our journey. These “God-moments” may be more subtle than a transfiguration on a mountaintop, but their impact can help sustain us if we recognize them by reflecting on the ways we have been inspired at our times of trial.

In today’s Gospel, the voice from heaven speaks to the disciples saying, “Listen to Him.” The Transfiguration was a focused moment for the disciples when they heard God speaking to them and experienced Jesus in glory. They most certainly left this focused moment with a new appreciation for the importance of Jesus’ words even if they did not yet understand everything that He had taught them. During Lent, we are invited to consider our attentiveness to Jesus and to one another. In the pace and noise that often characterize family life, how well do we listen to one another? What opportunities do we have for quiet prayer?

Gather as a family to count the pieces of equipment in your home that produce sound: televisions, radios, CD players, computers, video games, etc. Is more than one on at a time? Discuss this question: What is it like to try to talk with one another when this equipment is on? Can our household communication be improved by turning electronic sound off for a short time each day? Try it and give God the opportunity to speak to you through the members of your household.

The music playing is Agnus Dei from Mozart's Mass in C. From Music.podshow.com once again we hear from Bree Noble. This time with the Trinity Presbyterian Chancel Choir, Santa Ana, CA recorded April 1998. Bree has a different perspective to convey, one of not just a woman of faith, but of an individual who has learned to overcome great adversity; she has glaucoma and has been legally blind since birth. There is a link to Bree Noble's web site in our blog AWordOnTheWord.Blogspot.com. Well that's A Word on the Word for the Second Sunday in Lent 2007. Links to the Daily readings, Morning and evening prayers, music and more can be found in our show notes. We publish them at AWordOnTheWord.blogspot.com. Drop us a line at AWordontheWord@gmail.com, or the Saint Gregory Home page is http://www.danbury.org/stgreg.

Thank you for joining us.

God bless and Peace be With you.